Closed Running into the Past [Meville]

[Lorelle]

Meville gains a bit of a laugh with his insistence for her to teach him how to fall. "Alright then, you shall gain a lesson in falling from yours truly today," she says in her lyrical Vani with a gentle laugh lining her words. Personally, Lorelle hates falling. Falling means she has failed to stay up, meaning she has failed and she hates failing and feeling like a failure. She always got mixed signals from her parents with failing. Her father was always supportive and tried to make sure she knew that if she fails she just has to get back up and try again, better this time. Her mother on the other hand was always very negative, as she has been with everything lately, and once someone fails they are a failure in that area and are unable to redeem themselves. So Lorelle's feelings are mixed on falling and failing. She hasn't really found her own thoughts in that area. However, all that aside, if her goal is to fall whether it be to create humor or just to bring Meville down with her she doesn't see it as failure but instead a success. So therefore she will be sure to teach him how to fall, even if there is no proper way in doing so.

Lorelle shrugs at the comment about what she told him about what she has been doing the past two years. "Not much to share ... well not much that I want to share," she says the last part of her words softer than the rest of them. Sharing is not really her thing. At least not with someone she has such a complex past with like Meville. She is keeping herself a little more closed off in attempt to not give him anything to use against her should he ever have need of doing so. "Juggling?" she asks with raised eyebrows. Somehow she is not surprised. "That is when you spin objects around in the air with your hands, right?" she feels silly for having to ask, but she is not exactly someone who pays attention to skills like that.

What he says next about growing up does not surprise her. From what she has seen and heard from him just today, she can tell he forgot to grow up. He doesn't seem to have grown up from last she saw him. In fact it almost seems as though he did the exact opposite and shrank in maturity. Course she could be wrong. She doesn't remember much from that night two years ago. The information has either been lost over the course of the years or was never there to begin with. She shrugs in response though. "I don't know that I think it is worth it, but I don't mind having grown up. It means that I am on my own now and I like that. I do not miss my childhood and the attention that came with it," she answers, "I just like my life now. It feels good to be grown up. I like only having to rely on myself. Sometimes it is hard, but I make it work because I don't ever want to go back to what I was. I need to move forward and figure out who I am and who I want to be. Growing up is apart of that."

[Meville Brightshade]

"Moving forward..." Meville chewed on his lower lip as he absent mindedly dropped the snow to the ground, wiping his hand on his pant leg. "Ah, yes. Juggling is that." He offered a grin, gathering up snow as they went and pressing it into three snowballs. "It's like this, see?" Very carefully, he began to toss them into the air, one at a time, until they formed the lazy up and down circle associated with the activity. "Relying on yourself, hm?" His focus was more upon the snowballs than Lorelle, though his words were directed at her. "I may give it a try, some day." He stuck his tongue out at her in a playful gesture. Having drawn his eyes from what he was doing, the snowballs landed with three soft fumps in the snow in front of them. He looked at them in surprise, but chose to leave them where they were and keep stride with Lorelle. "Have you made any progress?" He ran his hand along a stone fence that ran along the length of a building to their right. The snow bunched around his fingers, falling off of the structure as he moved. "With discovering who you are." A small sigh escaped him as his eyes gazed off into the distance. "Or who you'd like to be." The words were soft, more introspective than before. Seeming to snap back from wherever his mind had wandered, Meville tapped his lips with his first two fingers on his right hand, letting the chilled digits endow the soft skin with the frosty cool of the snow. "I'm just curious is all. You don't have to answer anything that makes you uncomfortable." His warm smile was belied by the impish twinkle in his eye. He had the feeling she'd at least tell him something. Meville rarely spoke too much about himself, so it was almost irritating that he had slipped slightly. By redirecting the flow of conversation to Lorelle, he hoped she'd either elucidate or drop the whole thing. Either way, they were nearing their destination, so it wouldn't be long before they'd have to rent skates and begin the arduous journey of a skater.

[Lorelle]

Lorelle watches as the snowballs are thrown into the air in a circle. Looks hard to her. Something she doubts she would ever be able to pull off. "Mhmm, I see," she speaks as though she is speaking to a child. She shakes her head playfully, giving off a gentle laugh. She doesn't speak again until the snowballs fall to the ground. She stares at them a chime or so, almost entranced by them. She shakes off the feeling before looking back up at Meville and nodding her head. "You should try it some day, it may even do you some good," she says with a bit of sarcasm lining her voice with a tone of seriousness also.

His question is not met with a reply at first. In fact the only reply he gets from her regarding whether or not she has succeeded in finding herself at all is met with the happy glow leaving her face and a more solemn, serious look replacing it. She looks down towards the snowy ground and continues to walk. She shakes her head when he tells her she doesn't have to answer if she doesn't want to. "No, I am going to answer. I just don't know what to say yet," she assures him. Her words ring true as she really doesn't know what to tell him that won't expose some of the inner workings of who she is. And she isn't sure that she wants to expose herself like that, but at the same time she doesn't want to leave the question unanswered and let the conversation just drop and let the silence come back.

"In truth? No," she starts, "I haven't made any progress. Or if I have it hasn't been much." she sighs and looks up at him a minute, focusing in on his face before looking away again. His face just reminds her of a past she has been trying so hard to bury. It isn't that being with him is unpleasant, it is just that every time she really focuses on him she remembers that night. "I don't know who I am or who I want to be. Sometimes I think I will never figure it out here. I have contemplated going away for awhile, but at the same time I can't bring myself to leave because everything I have is here," she explains, exposing herself just a little bit. She shrugs and sighs, looking around. "I don't feel as though I have truly found myself. I feel as though I am living a mix of lives and none of them are my own. Someday I'll find myself, but I haven't yet."

"Enough of that though, look, we are almost there," she says, pointing at the frozen lake that is their destination. She puts on a smile as she speaks, wanting to return the mood to her light and overly cheery one. The lake isn't far away. It shouldn't take but a few more chimes to get there. Lorelle continues to walk towards it, surprisingly a little excited to get there. She doesn't know what it is about the idea of skating with Meville but it has put her in a pretty good mood. Even if they spend the entire time on their butts against the ice, it will be nothing less of an adventure. From what she has experienced it seems that Meville is good at giving her those. Adventures and memories. Both good and bad things in more than one way.

[Meville Brightshade]

Meville let his face fall into a thoughtful frown at Lorelle's response. He nodded here and there to show he was listening, while his mind explored the meaning behind her words. She said it like she thought it, or at least it seemed that way. It was strange how her words resonated with his heart. They were two entirely different beings, yet they, like most sentient beings, sought purpose, meaning, truth even. While Meville was less preoccupied with who he was, he carried much of the same angst and frustration when it came to what he was meant to do. It seemed like a fairly reasonable problem for both of them. Both he and she were fairly young, inexperienced in the ways of the world. They were young souls forced to accept the harsh realities of life and either assimilate or be destroyed. Meville had started his path down the latter, but it seems as though Lorelle were approaching it from a third option. Or at least, considering it. He wasn't too engrossed in his analysis of her thoughts made verbal to not notice how she would glance at him and quickly look away. It didn't surprise him. In fact, it was the only thing about their outing he could have predicted, especially after what she had told him. He was a constant reminder of the lowest point of her life. While she hadn't lived an incredibly long time, to her: his face, his voice, his entire being brought back memories he was sure she'd rather avoid. There wasn't really anything he could do about it, short of take his leave and desert her at the lake they were slowly approaching. The one thing he could do was avoid the subject of it. Usually, Meville would have made a jest or poked fun at how she couldn't seem to keep eye contact with him. Today, he let it slide, choosing instead to amble alongside her, sticking his frozen hands into his pockets to warm them up a bit. "Someday, hm?" He gave her a genuine look of empathetic understanding. "I believe someday you will, Lorelle. And perhaps..." He shrugged, the glance quickly melting back into his nonchalant grin, "Perhaps I'll get there first." He chuckled, clenching and unclenching his hands in his pockets to get the blood flowing. "This world is full of surprises, you know?" His eyes glinted with a merry shine as she decided it was best for their current conversation to end so they could focus at the task at hand. They'd finally arrived at the lake, the vast frozen expanse was filled with the laughing voices of the many patrons who moved in a circular pattern. Some moved incredibly fast while others employed stiff knees and wobbly balance to travel short distances before finding a short resting place in the seat of their pants. Meville pulled his hands out and clasped them together in front of him, rubbing the bottom of his palms together and laughing. "How exciting!" He turned to give Lorelle a quick glance, his blue eyes shining with interest and anticipation. His teeth parted to allow his tongue to stick out between them in a playful gesture before turning back towards the frozen mass of water. "Do we have to wear those funny shoes?" He pointed at the skates the people were wearing. Some were very intricately designed, while others seemed to be leather boots with a strip of metal attached to the sole. He paused to turn back to Lorelle, giving her a concerned, tight lipped frown. "We're not going to... lose any fingers or anything, are we?" Quickly glancing from Lorelle to the skaters and back, his face read nervous all over. "Because I don't want to miss out, but I really like having a ten of them and..." He shook his head in determination, giving Lorelle a glare of defiance. "I did come here with you to skate, not to run scared. I think I'm ready." He laughed then, rolling his eyes at himself and his flow of words. "Ah, sorry. You were saying about the skates?"

[Lorelle]

Lorelle can't help but let out a laugh at his ideas that he should find himself before her. She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "I highly doubt it," she comments before shrugging, "Though, I guess anything is possible. We may just have to wait and see." She laughs lightly once more as her eyes drift over to the lake they have now approached. While the conversation has now taken a turn towards something else, Lorelle can't help but think a tick longer on the previous matter. Could he figure out who he is before her? She doesn't think so, yet at the same time a part of her does. She shakes of the thought and buries it for another time. She looks over at him and smiles playfully as she rolls her eyes.

"Yes Meville, you shall be loosing a finger or two today," she teases, "You must decide which ones you can live without." She laughs a minute before her eyes roll once more at him and she starts towards the rental shop where they will get their skates. "Oh Meville, do not fret, you will leave here with all your fingers unless of course you really are so careless as to touch the blade and even then it should take some force to cut off your finger. At least I think so ..." she shakes her head a moment as a shiver runs down her spine at the thought of all the blood that would spill if that happened, "Best you just not touch the blade. Might be the safest course of action for you their Meville."

Lorelle continues to walk with him till they reach the rental shop. She then steps inside and looks around. There is a few patrons in the building. Quite a few of them are talking and enjoying warm drinks and food. Lorelle gives a small smile to those who greet her with their own smiles or waves. She makes her way to the place to get a pair of skates and finds Savina Coolwater taking care of the rentals. Lorelle talks with her a minute and comes away with a pair of skates. She then takes them and exits the shop the way she came. She stands outside and waits for Meville to get his own boots and hopefully find her out here. If he doesn't catch on as to where she is, she will go back in and find him. Though she doesn't want to. Too many people she doesn't know in one small space makes her feel small and she always just wants to curl up in the corner and hide. So hopefully he won't make her have to go back in there, but only time will tell. In the mean time, she sits down at the edge of the lake and starts to take off her boots so that she may put the skates on.

[Meville Brightshade]

Meville raised his eyebrows in questioning horror when Lorelle jested about which fingers he'd prefer to keep. All of them was the answer on the tip of his tongue, but when she laughed, he refrained from hit retort. Her humor was rather cutting, but he was glad she felt comfortable enough with him to poke fun at his fears. She was almost "normal", whatever that vague, abstract concept even truly meant. His bright eyes followed her easy movements with a burning curiosity. It wasn't a far walk to the lodge, but they spent their time in happy silence. Meville chose observation over dialogue. She had become a good deal more relaxed, though the actual state of being that was "relaxed" certainly didn't describe her. However much Meville was enjoying himself, he found he was more than the least bit pleased at how much good their outing seemed to be doing for Lorelle. Whatever the stress of her previous situation, forgetting it for a day with an old... whatever he was, appeared to be just what she needed. He didn't often find himself enjoying helping other people for very little gain of his own, but in this particular case, Meville couldn't help but feel a little pride in being able to distract her from whatever it was she'd been wanting to so desperately forget for the interim. When they moved from the cold air into the warmer atmosphere of the lodge, Meville let his eyes drift from Lorelle to the various patrons who, like the two of them, had found this particular day to be one fit for skating. It certainly wasn't crowded, but there were enough people in the fairly large interior to create that gentle hum of human voices mixed with mirth. Most seemed to be in high spirits, greeting the two of them with smiles and waves or other gestures of greeting. Meville returned all who offered him attention with his toothy grin, choosing to shine it directly at the more bedraggled, miserable looking few who stood round the fireplaces with small puddles beneath their feet. His extra attention was mostly due to the sudden realization that he would, invariably, join them withing the next few bells - if he even lasted that long. He trailed behind Lorelle, wiggling his fingers with an impish grin on his face in reply to the various expressions of disgust from those gathered near the heat of the fire to dry their clothes. When he turned back around, Lorelle was no where to be seen. He'd followed well enough to end up near the rental desk where a rather serious woman was handing out skates. Meville figured Lorelle had got the skates and gone to put them on, so he didn't worry too much as he approached the counter to rent a pair of his own. The rental woman didn't seem entirely sociable at the moment of their transaction, so Meville just offered her a weak grin in payment for his new footware and scuttled off to find Lorelle. Deciding he'd rather put his skates on in the happy warmth of the lodge, Meville plopped down on a bench and proceeded to switch his boots for the skates. His search for Lorelle was put on hiatus as his semi-numb right hand struggled with the laces of both boot and skate until he'd finally managed to both take off his boots and firmly attach the skates to his feet. The very last thing he wanted was for the blasted things to come off. He gathered up his boots and stood, wobbling slightly due to his new displacement of weight. Once he felt a bit more comfortable standing upon the slim blades attached to his feet, he hobbled out of the lodge and set about searching for Lorelle. It didn't take long. She had just finished cinching up her laces near the edge of the lake closest to the entrance to the lodge and seemed to be casually looking about. "Ah! Sorry about that! I don't have a Mark, so I wanted to put my skates on where it would be warm!" His voice carried easily over the snow with his happy chirp of a voice as he unsteadily made his way over the white powder towards Lorelle. He made it about halfway before plummeting into a drift face first. A few seconds of rapid struggling and he was back on his feet, face flushed red from the sudden cold but smile gleaming bright in the gentle light of the day. "Well, there's my first fall then." He let out a chuckle as he squatted down by Lorelle. "Do we just... Start?"

[Lorelle]

Lorelle is just about to get up and try to find her blonde haired human companion when she sees him hobbling towards her. It is quite comical actually, watching him try to walk in the things. She is about to shout back in reply to him when he falls in the snow and she bursts out laughing. It is one of those musical type laughs that is loud and embarrassing, but isn't out of control and bad sounding. She shakes a bit from it, having to grab her sides. It isn't that his fall was exceptionally comical, it is just that he isn't even on the ice yet and he was trying so hard to stay on his feet. Or at least it looked that way. Then he was struggling to get out and snow was going everywhere and well ... Lorelle just couldn't help herself!

The dark haired Vantha does regain her composer by the time Meville has made his way up and the rest of the way over to her. She still smiles though, her cheeks bright red and her eyes shining gold. "Normally I would say I am sorry, but I can't. That just made me laugh and I am sorry, but I am not going to apologize!" she declares, her smile brightening a bit. It is one of those smiles that is truly genuine for it touches her eyes. She is happy. For some reason the cause of such a horrid memory that has refused to fully leave her has made her the happiest she has been in a long time. In fact she probably hasn't been this happy since before that night two years ago.

Lorelle looks at him with his words and gives him a small pat on the back. "Good first fall," she says teasingly, black seeping into her gold eyes. She looks at the ice and the people on it. So many people have chosen today to skate, or at least it seems that way. Last time it was in no way this busy. She nods at his question. "Yep, pretty much," she says as she stands up. Her legs are shaky, but she steadies herself enough to stand up straight. She looks at Meville, her eyes solid black now. "Ready?" she asks with excitement lining her voice.

Before waiting for an answer, Lorelle steps out onto the ice. She is determine to not loose control, but to try and keep herself steady and up as much as possible. Though she does doubt that this will actually happen. Most likely she will loose all control and plow right into something or someone, but she has chosen to be optimistic and think positively. So with such thoughts in her head, she castes off onto the ice and starts skating. She is shaky and an obvious beginner, but she stays on her feet as she looks only down when she is suppose to be at least a bit observant of those around her. Luckily no one really is around her at the moment. She takes small strokes, mentally telling herself to put out one foot than the other. She doesn't even pay attention to see what Meville is doing at the moment, she is to focused on herself and staying up.

She is going good for about five chimes when she runs into someone. She lands hard on her back end. "That hurt," she says, a bit surprised, appalled and in a bit of shock at the same time. It takes her a tick to regain her mind and once she does she laughs and shakes her head as she gets back up. She knows she will be sore tomorrow, but for some reason she doesn't care. She turns and finds Meville. She flashes him a smirk before shouting just loud enough for him to hear, "And that was my first fall!"

[Meville Brightshade]

Meville grinned wide as Lorelle made her own, uncertain way onto the ice. In the short amount of time it had taken for them to leave the stalls and arrive at the lake, Lorelle had opened up to the point where she was smiling and laughing right along side him. Well, more accurately, at him, but it had the same effect. She was happier and focused on the task at hand, rather than everything in her future as she had seemed before. Meville was surprised to realize they were much more similar than he'd first thought. Both he and she just wanted to enjoy the day and their time together, barring any and all things that might complicate it. It was a mixture of happiness and determination that drew Meville onto the ice after her. His eyes were focused on the awkward shift of weight from one foot to the other, much the way he'd seen Lorelle do it. The other, more experienced skaters, glided across the ice using minimal movements. Meville couldn't quite comprehend how they managed it, as his own movements tended to reward him with movement backwards rather than forwards. He looked up in time to see Lorelle bounce of the back of someone in front of them and land back upon the ice. His own bubbly laughter joined in with hers as he scooted his feet back and fourth to try to catch up to her. "It was a good one!" He had meant to stop and compliment her on her fall, but the skates seemed to have a different plan in mind. While his face was turned to Lorelle, his body continued inching forward, moving in a diagonal relative to the flow of bodies on the invisible, circular track. His eyes widened in surprise as Lorelle quickly became a distant figure. He frantically moved his skates to try to go backwards, but it seemed whichever way he intended to go, the opposite came about. Discouraged, Meville reached out a hand to grab onto one of the faster moving skaters in hope that he would be carried along by the momentum. It was not the case in the slightest. First, the skater let out a cry of surprise as Meville was pulled off of his feet and onto the icy ground with a loud thud. Meville let out his own yelp as the man came tumbling down on top of him. This was followed by several other newer skaters crashing into them for lack of steering until there were several writhing bodies all laughing and shouting at one another. Being on the bottom, Meville had to wait until everyone clamored off of him before he could sit up and breath. His blond hair was tousled, and his cheeks were flushed red as he glanced around with wide eyes. "Ah! Excuse me!" He called out to the man he'd initially grabbed who just shot him a dirty look. He made a mental note then not to grab onto anything moving faster than he. Pushing himself back onto his feet while the various skaters wound around him with relative ease, Meville began scooting forward once more. He glanced around too see Lorelle's laughing face tuned back to him a little distance off down the pond, so he returned a grin and made his shuffling movements a little bit faster. It was odd how the more effort he put into moving forward, the worse the result. The better skaters had a side to side movement, like a dance, as they skimmed over the smooth ice of Mirror Lake. Meville felt much like he was running place, cutting fissures into what should have been the flat surface of the skating rink. Meville drew a deep breath and decided he'd try the swaying movements. He was rewarded with more momentum, but still struggled with maintaining balance. Eventually he caught up to Lorelle, but not before falling several more times. The ice was unsurprisingly hard and rewarded him with a multitude of new, baby bruises that would develop their full color within the next day or so, he was sure. "Gods know how these people move so quickly!" His breath came in short bursts due to the energy required for locomotion. Meville was certainly not a paragon of athleticism, so when it came to ice skating, he won no awards for his stamina. The cold air burned against his lungs, but his chilled face still turned in a happy grin. It was much more fun than he'd though, even with the falls, bruises, and bumps he'd been racking up by the dozen. "I can barely keep my toes pointed in the direction I want to go!" His last word was practically yelled as he had attempted to stop near her, but ended up upon his bottom. Laughter and a slight groan of pain mixed together as he sat there for a moment to regain his breath. "It hurts a lot more than I thought it would."

[Lorelle]

Lorelle watches from not far off at Meville's actions. The human has managed to not only fall himself, but bring others down with him. Lorelle is met with a fit of laughter at this. She can't contain it and as she laughs, her attention is taken from focusing on her own skating. Before she knows it she is slowly sliding backwards on the ice. After a tick or two, she finally realizes that she is moving and panics. She tries skating forward at a brisk pace but only looks foolish as she moves about and continues to unwillingly go backwards. In the end, she runs into someone and is back on her butt, muttering upset words at the ice as she gets a rather grumpy looking on her face. She feels and looks like a child again, falling when she should have been able to keep a level head and go forward.

Sighing, Lorelle attempts to get up but is met with the sight of Meville trying to make his way over to her and falling in the process. For some reason this brightens her mood. Seeing his pain makes her laugh and her childishness flutters away. A smile presents itself upon her face and she lets out a small laugh as he picks himself up only to fall again a bit nearer to her. She stands up and manages to slowly skate the rest of the way over to him before crouching down and looking at him with black eyes that look almost eerie but also sparkle with excitement. Or is that mischievous in her eyes instead? Not even Lorelle herself knows for she does not even care to think on the matter.

"It does hurt a bit doesn't it?" she asks rhetorically, knowing very well how much the hard ice against one's body feels, "I will defiantly be sore in the morning." She shrugs after speaking, looking away from Meville and to the other people on the lake. "Oh well, hopefully it is worth it," she speaks as she straightens herself back into a standing position. She puts her hand out for Meville. "Ready to get back out there?"

[Meville Brightshade]

Meville gripped the hand that was extended to him, trying his best not to pull her down with him as he staggered to his unsteady stance upon the blades attached to his feet. Already, there were several skaters who shot the two of them very dirty, very angry looks as they whizzed by. Those particular people were met with the pained grin of Meville's mischievous malice that glinted in his bright blue eyes. Lorelle spoke for both of them when she stated how their falls would be staying with them for awhile. He grinned at her, wobbling slightly as he did so. "I'd say so." He slid backwards slightly, but instead of panicking, he pulled on the arm that was still in his grasp, allowing him to move slightly more forward and her to be pulled slightly in his direction. He couldn't help but giggle slightly at how ridiculous he was sure they looked. "Worth it, I mean. I think it is." He gave her a wink before starting off once more into the whirling mass of bodies. This time, he had a bit of a better understanding of how the blasted blades worked, though he looked more as if he were being chased by some large, terrifying animal while running on a bed of needles. Despite his unorthodox methods, Meville was able to make an entire circle around the lake. It was, of course, incredibly exhausting. Such an effort was rather foreign to him outside of his usual training. It wasn't so much that he found physical activities to be something distasteful, but rather he found them to be much more difficult than they should be. His particular "ailment" gave him several physical handicaps that made the whole act of skating all the more difficult. Still, he flung himself into the activity. He saw absolutely no reason to deny himself the pleasure of skating with Lorelle just because it was a little more difficult for him than any other man his age and build. Though he wished to continue, Meville found his body was slowly beginning to win the battle of wills. His breathing came heavy and, surprisingly enough, there were beads of sweat slowly trickling down the side of his face. Finally acquiescing to his body's needs, Meville signaled to the slightly-less-struggling-than-before Lorelle that he was going to take a short break. The signal was a rapid succession of hand movements followed by several over emphasized mouth formations. It looked almost like he was choking on something and silently calling for help. The only difference was a very happy, albeit tired, smile that finished the strange series. Once that was done, Meville let himself ease back into the snow around the lake. He felt the cool chill of the icy substance sneak its way into his clothes, but Meville did little to hinder its progress. If anything, the cold was a welcome guest against his uncomfortable warm skin. He even let his eyes close for a few moments, grimacing slightly as the biting rush of the air nipped at his lungs. Meville moved his hands up to his face, shielding his closed eyes from the shine of the sun. The bright red glow of his eyelids shifted to the peaceful dark black that came with darkness in the night. It was relaxing, but it didn't solve his body's obvious antipathy towards skating. He lay there a few moments more before forcing himself into a sitting position. Though his mouth was curved in the half-crescent of a smile, it didn't reach his eyes. The sudden onset of his physical weakness was not only strange, it was a little bit terrifying. The side-effects of leeching where all too well known by Meville, but that was only in theory. When his body actually exhibited those effects, it was an entirely different story. He certainly couldn't explain to Lorelle what was actually happening, so he quickly ran through numerous excuses to find one that made sense. She was making her way towards him now. From what Meville could tell, she didn't seem overly concerned, which was good. If she were truly worried, that would only mean she would be all the more pressing about what was wrong. His biggest challenge now was to play it off as nothing.